Drive Moya / Haunted by the remote / Backwards Charm

All great things must come to an end. About half of the time, that’s a good thing. This idea spreads like a vascular network throughout Drive Moya’s second album ‘The Great End’. Arteries of loss, death, and existential angst head in one direction, with veins of hope, escape, and renewal pumping in the other. The difficult part is telling the difference. Even in the band’s sweetest moments, they are often obscuring a much darker sentiment. Musically, Drive Moya have sharpened their focus since their 2019 debut, with tighter songwriting, hookier choruses, and a more powerful impact. What hasn’t changed is their knack for blending distinctly 90s-flavoured influences into a sharp, contemporary, and quite unique sound. The tapestry of noises, textures, and moods Drive Moya conjure up makes ‘The Great End’ a complex and engaging journey, taking in upbeat indie-rock numbers (‘Your Heart Will Never Burst’, ‘The Sun’), melancholy slowcore/shoegaze (‘This Grey Heart’, ‘Unbound’), and dense, atmospheric post-rock events (‘Human Remains’, ‘Ante Valdemar Roos’). Guest contributors—including Viennese electro-hero Gerhard Potuznik and grammy-winning super producer Shawn Everett—even add some exciting new colours to the band’s palette, accentuating ‘The Great End’s bright side. Watch out though: even when it sounds cheerful, it could still be about the death of joy. Everything has its last gasp at some point.